It was one of the earliest shocks of this year's series of Love Island, and now Niall has finally revealed why he left the Spanish villa.

The 23-year-old left the villa after a week, despite being one of the most popular contestants and hitting it off with fellow islander Georgia.

The show cited 'personal reasons' for his departure, with other islanders seemingly as shocked by the news.

Since leaving the villa, Niall has been silent on social media and not done any public interviews, but he has now taken to Instagram to reveal the reason for his departure was because he has Asperger syndrome.

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In a post this morning, he said: "Right, so here it goes…for this post I am putting my laying it on thick brush down and hoping to hit the nation with a love potion.

Niall left Love Island after a week

"For far too long I have suffered in silence and not acknowledged a massive fact about my life which going into the villa has led me to finally realise and accept.

"When I was a young child I was diagnosed with asperges syndrome (sic), a fact that until this post has never shared outside of my close family. Growing up was extremely difficult for me and I often felt out of place. I always felt that people didn’t understand me, yet I was afraid to reveal my true scales as I did not want the label or stigma that was attached to it.

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"But now I think it is important that I come forward, not only so that I can finally be honest with myself and to those around me, but also so that other individuals in my position can embrace their true colours."

He added: "It’s not been an easy ride for me to come to terms with this fact but I am glad that I can now accept who I am, and am looking forward to my next chapter.

"I would just like to thank the team at ITV for always backing me and giving me the opportunity to rid my myself of my insecurities and embrace the fact that I am different yet I am still a rainbow fish. I can’t explain how grateful I am for the support from the whole team over this period.

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"I would also like to thank the British public for the love you have all shown me over the past few weeks, it has been overwhelming.

"Now it’s time for this rainbow fish to dive deep into the big blue ocean and show the world what I’m all about – there’s more layers to come. #AutismAwareness #BeYourOwnKindOfRainbowFish #LessPrangMoreLove."

What is Asperger syndrome?

Asperger syndrome is a type of autism, and is a condition which affects a person's social interaction, interests and behaviour.

As with all autism conditions, Asperger is a spectrum condition, and will affect different people in different ways.

This means that different people with the condition will have different levels of need and require different amounts of support.

It is not yet know what causes a person to develop Asperger but it is thought there is a genetic element to the condition.

People with Asperger's can sometimes can across as blunt or socially inappropriate with their language or behaviour, and may find it difficult to interpret body language or facial expressions.